According to The Wall Street Journal/NBC News polling, since November 2014 public opinion on whether free trade with foreign countries helps or hurts the US have been in flux, corresponding with a national debate over a proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership pact with 11 other select Asian and Pacific Rim countries that […] Read more »
Your Politics Determine Your Anxieties
Add this to the long list of disagreements between Red and Blue America: Republicans and Democrats are worried about completely different things when they look at the state of the U.S. economy, culture and political system, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll has found. CONT. Janet Hook, Wall Street […] Read more »
Dear Democrats: Populism Will Not Save You
… Is a new majority in fact ready to support a political agenda based on ending or reducing economic inequality through government activism? There are circumstances like those of the early 1930s when a majority of Americans have backed progressive economic reform and government intervention and even the kind of […] Read more »
In House Trade Vote, Party Affiliation Mattered
It is often hard to draw a clear line between the votes of lawmakers and the economic interests of their districts. What gets in the way sometimes is partisan politics. We had a vivid display of that Thursday when the House voted, yet again, on whether to grant President Barack […] Read more »
Beyond Personalities
It’s human nature: People’s ideas about presidential races are largely shaped by their perceptions of the personalities and images of the candidates. Both voters and the media become preoccupied, even obsessed, with these factors, to the exclusion of any others. The truth is, however, that big, fundamental forces have considerable—indeed, […] Read more »
Democrats Opposition to Trade is Nothing New
With his attempts to woo Democrats unsuccessful, President Obama turned to Republicans this week to help rescue his Asia trade hopes. Obama has succeeded in the first step, with the House voting to support Trade Promotion Authority for the President by a vote of 218 to 208. Just 28 Democrats […] Read more »